Prosecutors say a 2023 double homicide intersects with a later horse killing tied to Norse-themed white-supremacist gang lore.
KENT, WA — On Wed., Jan. 28, 2026, a King County jury heard opening statements in the trial of Brandon Gerner, 42, accused of killing Robert Riley and Ashley Williams and dumping their bodies in Maple Valley in November 2023. Prosecutors say the case is entwined with a separate horse killing that defendants allegedly described as a tribute after a friend died in a police shootout.
The case matters now because it pulls together two high-profile investigations spanning King and Pierce counties: a roadside discovery of two bodies near a Maple Valley neighborhood and, days later, a horse shot in Pierce County and discussed in reports as a “sacrifice to Odin.” Prosecutors say the episodes are linked by white-supremacist prison gang ties and by the movements of Gerner and his close associate, Kody Olsen, who later died after exchanging gunfire with deputies. A third man, Joshua Jones, has already admitted helping move the bodies and is serving a prison term, while Gerner faces trial on murder charges.
According to charging records outlined in court, the violence began after a dispute at a commercial property along 238th Avenue Southeast in 2023. Prosecutors say Riley pointed a gun during the confrontation. They allege Gerner told Olsen to open fire, killing Riley, and then repeatedly stabbed Williams because he believed she witnessed the shooting. When Williams did not die from the stab wounds, prosecutors say Olsen shot her. The bodies of Riley, 57, and Williams, 34, were found the next morning under debris near 22600 Southeast 216th Place in Maple Valley. In court Wednesday, defense attorney Lisa Mulligan argued Olsen alone killed both victims, saying Riley “put a gun in [Gerner’s] face” and that Gerner later made “the wrong choice” by helping move the bodies, but “is an innocent person.”
Investigators say Olsen fled a DUI stop on Dec. 12, 2023, and crashed on Vickery Road south of Tacoma before opening fire on deputies, striking one in the chest; the round hit a handcuff pouch instead of body armor. Deputies returned fire, and Olsen died days later at a hospital. In the hours after Olsen’s death, reports say, Gerner and others spoke about killing a horse near the shooting scene so Olsen would have “a steed to ride into Valhalla.” A horse named LeMon was later found with a gunshot wound near 132nd Street East and Vickery Avenue East around 12:30 a.m. Dec. 17, 2023. Authorities said the death was described in documents as “a sacrifice to Odin,” aligning with Norse-themed rhetoric tied to white-supremacist prison groups.
Detectives described both homicide victims as discovered off a residential roadway near the Rock Creek Natural Area, hidden under trash and brush. A neighbor on a morning walk saw the bodies and called authorities. Court filings say Gerner and Olsen confronted Riley on the Maple Valley property before the killings, and that a witness later characterized the clash as a “drug deal gone bad.” Prosecutors say the pair then moved the bodies during the night and left them in the neighborhood. Records note that Gerner had previously served more than two decades in prison on earlier felony convictions and, according to investigators, formed associations with white-supremacist prison groups that mixed gang loyalty with Norse mythology.
In separate filings, Pierce County investigators linked the LeMon shooting to conversations among the same circle after Olsen’s death. Deputies canvassed stables near the crash site and recovered evidence indicating the horse was shot at close range. While deputies initially had few answers, later interviews and phone records helped connect the horse killing to the Maple Valley circle under scrutiny. In King County, prosecutors also charged Joshua Jones, now 36, with rendering criminal assistance for helping move the bodies. Jones later pleaded guilty and received a 72-month sentence. Authorities said the events involving the horse pointed to a celebratory or ritual tone tied to the suspects’ ideology, though they stressed that the animal killing is charged separately in Pierce County.
During opening statements, prosecutors emphasized coordination between the defendants and their movements from the Maple Valley property to the neighborhood where the bodies were left. They pointed to locations, time stamps and witness statements, saying the narrative was consistent with the physical evidence recovered from both scenes. The defense told jurors they would see that Olsen alone chose to fire, that Gerner’s actions afterward—helping move the bodies—were wrong but not the charged conduct, and that evidence would not prove Gerner planned or ordered the killings. Jurors were instructed to weigh the testimony of cooperating witnesses and to expect references to gang language, including Norse-themed phrases, without treating those beliefs as evidence of guilt by themselves.
Wednesday’s hearing marked the start of what court staff estimate will be a multiweek trial. Prosecutors are expected to call detectives, forensic specialists and civilian witnesses from the neighborhood where the bodies were found. The court docket anticipates testimony about cell-site data, ballistics and autopsy findings later in the state’s case. After the prosecution rests, the defense may present witnesses and cross-examination meant to raise doubt about who fired the fatal shots and who moved the bodies. Jurors were told to return Thursday morning for continued testimony; closing arguments and deliberations are expected after the state and defense complete their cases.
Outside court, people who knew the victims described them as familiar faces in the area who sometimes spent time near the Maple Valley property where the confrontation began. The neighborhood where the bodies were found remained quiet Wednesday, with trimmed hedges and winter-bare trees along the cul-de-sac that connects to Southeast 216th Place. A resident who found the bodies in November 2023 was not present for openings, but neighbors said the discovery still weighs on the block. In Pierce County, the stable where LeMon was shot continues to draw occasional visitors who leave flowers or notes; staff there declined comment during the trial’s first day, citing the ongoing proceedings.
As of Wednesday evening, testimony was set to continue Thursday in King County Superior Court in Kent. The judge reminded jurors to avoid news coverage and outside research. A verdict in Gerner’s case will follow deliberations after closing arguments in the coming weeks.
Author note: Last updated January 28, 2026.